SF Bay Area ---> Death Valley

"Jonathan Sorger" wrote in message
...
[...]
I realize that you contact Joshua Approach for the MOA status - can
anyone clue me in to whether or not they typically allow civilian
aircraft through at other altitudes during their operational hours?

Well, not to encourage flight through active MOAs, but...

You are permitted to fly through a MOA, whether active or not. Flying IFR,
ATC will often route you around, but VFR there are no restrictions. There
is no "do they allow civilian aircraft through". If you want to fly
through, you do.

That said, contacting the controlling facility is still a good idea. You
may get flight following, or a suggested altitude to fly that will keep you
out of the way of any users of the MOA. Or at the very least, you may be
able to provide additional information (depending on radar coverage) that
will help the users avoid you.

I have had generally good luck dealing with controlling facilities for
military special use airspace. In once case, they even suspended activities
in a restricted area long enough for me to cut through the corner, so that I
could deviate around a thunderstorm (I was VFR, contacting the military
facility using the information on my chart).

I'm not familiar with that specific route, but I think you're wise to want
to avoid low-level flight in the mountainous terrain. It's doable if you
have to, but flying higher will give you a lot more options, and will
probably result in a more comfortable flight.

Pete